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Many of the biggest achievements in aeronautics research are chronicled
in books rich with detail, personal stories, surprising twists of fate
and revolutionary discoveries that have influenced the experience of
flight for millions of people.

These books are now being converted for download and use on digital
reading devices such as the Kindle™, SONY® Reader and the
nook™.

To use, download the file to your computer and then drag and drop onto
your reading device.

Hard copies are typically available 8-10 weeks after the e-book posting.
If you cannot find the book at your local bookseller, it might be
available through either the U.S. Government Printing Office or through
NASA Headquarters' Information Center.
+ Learn About Availability of Hard Copies

BOOKS AVAILABLE NOW

Flying Beyond the Stall: The X-31 and the Advent of Supermaneuverability
by Douglas A. Joyce
(posted February 6, 2015)
The X-31 was unique in the world of experimental or X-airplanes. It was
the only X-plane that was designed, manufactured, and flight tested as
an international effort; a joint effort of the United States and
Germany. It also was the only X-plane that supported two separate test
programs, one run largely by NASA and the other by the U. S. Navy that
were conducted years apart with the aircraft in storage between them.
The X-31 was the only X-plane to perform at the Paris Air Show.

Cave of the Winds: The Remarkable History of the Langley Full-Scale Wind Tunnel
by Joseph R. Chambers
(posted August 4, 2014)
The huge Langley Full-Scale Tunnel building dominated the skyline of
Langley Air Force Base for 81 years (1930–2011). The Full-Scale Tunnel
was constructed by the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics
(NACA) during an era when biplanes and dirigibles dominated aviation.
The results of critical tests conducted within its massive test section
contributed to many of the Nation's most important aeronautics and space
programs. The historical significance of the Full-Scale Tunnel was
formally recognized when it was designated a National Historic Landmark
in 1985 by the National Park Service.

A New Twist in Flight Research: The F-18 Active Aeroelastic Wing Project
by Peter W. Merlin
(posted February 6, 2014)
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Air Force, and
industry researchers are using wing-shaping techniques that emulate the
flexibility of bird wings to develop flight controls for 21st-century
airplanes.

In the first step toward these goals, a joint effort by NASA, Air Force,
and Boeing researchers resulted in an AAW test bed that eventually came
to be known as the X-53. A modified F-18 jet fighter served as a test
bed for AAW technology.

Sweeping Forward: Developing & Flight Testing the Grumman X-29A Forward Swept Wing Research Aircraft
by Frederick A. Johnsen
(posted November 6, 2013)
The X-29 was an unusual aircraft with a truly unique silhouette. It
combined many features that challenged the technologies of its day and
represented special problems for the developers and the team of testers
responsible for documenting its features and design goals. This book is
a look at the "big picture" of what this team accomplished in a
relatively fast-paced test program involving the truly unique X-29.

Thinking Obliquely: Robert T. Jones, the Oblique Wing, NASA's AD-1 Demonstrator, and its Legacy
by Bruce I. Larrimer
(posted August 15, 2013)
This book tells the story of the NASA Oblique Wing Research Aircraft.
Most aircraft have straight wings or slightly swept back wings, but what
if an aircraft had one wing swept forward and the other swept back?
Conceived by a NASA engineer, R.T. Jones, the oblique wing concept was
tested from 1976 through 1982 with the promise of improved aerodynamic
efficiency over standard configurations.This volume highlights the steps
leading to the flight of the test vehicle and the lessons learned
regarding novel vehicle concepts.

Quieting the Boom: The Shaped Sonic Boom Demonstrator and the Quest for Quiet Supersonic Flight
by Lawrence R. Benson
(posted August 2, 2013)
This book tells the stories of the people, organizations and a unique
vehicle involved with an intensive set of flight demonstrations that
proved altering an aircraft's shape could lower the intensity of sonic
booms. The Shaped Sonic Boom Demonstrator culminated four decades of
study on mitigating the strength of sonic booms, contributing to
current research that could someday lead to commercial supersonic
flight over land.

Crash Course: Lessons Learned from Accidents Involving Remotely Piloted and Autonomous Aircraft
by Peter W. Merlin
(posted March 15, 2013)
This volume contains an investigation of remotely piloted research
vehicle (RPRV) and unmanned aircraft system (UAS) mishaps and will
examine their causes, consequences, resultant corrective actions, and
lessons learned. Most undesired outcomes usually do not occur because of
a single event, but rather from a series of events and actions involving
equipment malfunctions and/or human factors. This book comprises a
series of case studies focusing mostly on accidents and incidents
involving experimental aircraft. The information provided should be of
use to flight-test organizations, aircraft operators, educators, and
students, among others. These lessons are not unique to the UAS
environment and are also applicable to human aviation and space flight
activities. Common elements include crew resource management, training,
mission planning issues, management and programmatic pressures (e.g.,
schedule, budget, resources), cockpit/control station design, and other
factors.

Coming Home: Reentry and Recovery from Space
by Roger D. Launius and Dennis R. Jenkins
(posted December 11, 2012)
The technologies for the reentry and recovery from space might change
over time, but the challenge remains one of the most important and
vexing in the rigorous efforts to bring spacecraft and their crews and
cargo home successfully. Returning to Earth after a flight into space is
a fundamental challenge, and contributions from the NASA Aeronautics
Research Mission Directorate in aerodynamics, thermal protection,
guidance and control, stability, propulsion, and landing systems have
proven critical to the success of the human space flight and other space
programs. Without this base of fundamental and applied research, the
capability to fly into space would not exist.

Dressing for Altitude: U.S. Aviation Pressure Suits—Wiley Post to Space Shuttle
by Dennis Jenkins
(posted August 31, 2012)
NASA has published a colorful, picture-filled book that details the
development and use of the protective clothing worn by test pilots,
astronauts and others as they soar through the rarified atmosphere high
above the Earth.

Dressing for Altitude: U.S. Aviation Pressure Suits – Wiley Post to
Space Shuttle provides within its 526 pages an extensive survey of the
partial- and full-pressure suits designed to keep humans alive at the
edge of space since their first use during the years before World War
II.

Order print copies:NASA's Information Center
(NOTE: Click on "Request Form" at the top of the left column; use SP number "SP-2011-595" and the cost is $75 per copy.)

Breaking the Mishap Chain: Human Factors Lessons Learned from Aerospace Accidents and Incidents in Research, Flight Test, and Development
by Peter W. Merlin, Gregg A. Bendrick, and Dwight A. Holland
(posted June 2012)
This volume contains a collection of case studies of mishaps involving
experimental aircraft, aerospace vehicles, and spacecraft in which human
factors played a significant role. In all cases the engineers involved,
the leaders and managers, and the operators (i.e., pilots and
astronauts) were supremely qualified and by all accounts superior
performers. Such accidents and incidents rarely resulted from a single
cause but were the outcome of a chain of events in which altering at
least one element might have prevented disaster. As such, this work is
most certainly not an anthology of blame. It is offered as a learning
tool so that future organizations, programs, and projects may not be
destined to repeat the mistakes of the past. These lessons were learned
at high material and personal costs and should not be lost to the pages
of history.

Aeronautics Collection of Technical Memorandums
Select Technologies That Have Shaped Modern Aviation
by Clayton J. Bargsten and Malcolm T. Gibson
(posted September 2011)
This collection of short papers provides a helpful account of the
development of a number of key aviation technologies: chevron nozzles,
winglets, composite structures, ADS-B, synthetic vision systems and
FACET. These technologies were chosen to demonstrate the diversity and
profound impact NASA has had, and will forever have, on the aviation
industry.

"NASA's Contributions to Aeronautics, Volume 1"
Edited by Richard P. Hallion
(posted August 2010)
Since its creation, NASA has steadily advanced flight within the
atmosphere, repeatedly influencing aviation's evolution by extending the
rich legacy of its predecessor, the National Advisory Committee for
Aeronautics, or NACA. This first volume in a two-volume set includes
case studies and essays on NACA-NASA research for contributions such as
high-speed wing design, the area rule, rotary-wing aerodynamics
research, sonic boom mitigation, hypersonic design, computational fluid
dynamics, electronic flight control and environmentally friendly
aircraft technology.

"Modeling Flight"
by Joseph R. Chambers
(posted July 2010)
For years, NASA has used subscale models of aircraft to test how they
would perform at full size. In fact, since the 1920s during the days of
the National Advisory Committee on Aeronautics, scientists have
continually refined testing techniques including building and using new
facilities, making models more sophisticated and learning how to best
interpret the results. Using these techniques, NASA has made many
contributions to a broad range of aircraft including general aviation,
fighters, civil transports, lifting bodies, reentry capsules, parawing
vehicles, and supersonic transports. This book describes the issues that
must be considered when transferring subscale results to full-scale
application, and reviews results obtained in historically significant
aircraft programs conducted at NASA's Langley Research Center, NASA's
Dryden Flight Research Center, and NASA's Ames Research Center.

"Apollo of Aeronautics: NASA's Aircraft Energy Efficiency Program, 1973-1987"
by Mark D. Bowles
(posted April 2010)
The fuel crisis of the 1970s threatened not only the airline industry
but also the future of American prosperity itself. It also served as the
genesis of technological ingenuity and innovation from a group of
scientists and engineers at NASA, who initiated planning exercises to
explore new fuel-saving technologies. What emerged was a series of
technologically daring aeronautical programs with the potential to
reduce by an astonishing 50 percent the amount of fuel used by the
nation's commercial and military aircraft.

"Ikhana: Unmanned Aircraft System, Western States Fire Missions"
by Peter W. Merlin
(posted January 2010)
The story of the Ikhana, a remotely piloted vehicle used by NASA
researchers to conduct Earth science research and which became an
unexpected flying and imaging helper to emergency workers battling
California wildfires.

"X-15: Extending the Frontiers of Flight"
by Dennis R. Jenkins
(posted December 2009)
The X-15 was the ultimate "X" vehicle. Built in the 1950s, she became
the fastest and highest-flying winged aircraft of its time. During 199
flights from 1959 through 1968, she collected data about hypersonic
flight that was invaluable to aeronautics and to developers of the space
shuttle. This book describes the genesis of the program, the design and
construction of the aircraft, years of research flights and the
experiments that flew aboard them.